Character Creation
Character creation is the process of generating a character to represent a player or GM's actions and influence within the world. This process is fairly normalised, and is detailed below.
The Concept
To begin character creation, you must have a concept. This is the idea of the character you want to play. It could be a 'mad scientist', an 'investigative reporter', a 'stalwart defender'. It is encouraged that you try and flesh out the character concept before delving into the mechanics of how it works, as having an idea of how the character reacts under stress, how they solve problems, their attitude towards interpersonal relationships, and other such personality facets, are all important in figuring out how the character can act within the world.
Race and Class
The basic descriptors of your character are the character's Race and Class.
Unlike in the real world, where race is often defined by cultural heritage and outward appearance alone, races within the Weirlands are different species and distinct forms of life. Each race has a common cultural and biological heritage, though regional variants are highly prevalent. As such, it would not necessarily be discriminatory to offer an Orc guest a plate of raw horsemeat for dinner, nor offer that your Elven guests find repose in the quiet library rather than a bedroom. However, individual tastes and requirements are often a big factor; vegetarian Orcs are rare, but not impossible, and many Elves enjoy a night in a downy, comfortable bed as much as the next bipedal sapient.
Within this wiki are pages which provide examples of the cultural ideals and concepts of the various races through various points in time. Many of these are written from in-verse; that is, by a person within the Weirlands. As such, unreliable narrators are to be expected, and the writing may give you more insight as to the attitudes of the author than of the subject.
The Class represents a mechanical method of categorising the abilities of the character. It is assumed that all PCs and major NPCs in play are heroic in some form; that is, they all have innate abilities and/or training that elevates them above the generic peasant, merchant, or militia. Classes are categorised by Archetype and Power Source, and each has a list of specialisations that allow you to more accurately define your character's interests within their field.
Attributes
Skills and Feats
Each character has a number of Skills and Feats that they have studied and understand. Skills often represent general proficiency in an area, whereas Feats give access to special abilities that can be performed in certain situations. A 1st level character begins with 1 feat of their choice, and a number of skill points equal to what they would normally gain per level.
Skill points gained per level are proportional to a character's Intelligence modifier. If the character's Intelligence modifier goes up, the character retroactively gains access to skill points that would have been gained. They are assigned at the player's choice, the next time an extended rest occurs. For instance, a level 5 character gaining +1 to their Intelligence modifier would gain an additional 5 skill points to assign where they wish.
If a character's Intelligence modifier goes down, the character loses access to skill points, starting from the skill with the highest rank and proceeding down the rank order, one at a time, until the total skill points spent is correct. If skills are tied in rank, the player may choose which one to reduce. However, this must be done one at a time, so it's entirely possible that this choice is meaningless. For instance, a level 12 character suffering -2 to their Intelligence modifier would lose a total of 24 skill points, starting from their most highly ranked skill, reducing said skill by 1 before re-checking.
